Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The longer I work in early childhood education, the more convinced I become that the single most important thing we can do for the young children we serve is to build connections and relationships that foster children's emotional well-being and the ability to interact positively with others. This is not to say that cognitive development doesn't "matter," but rather that in the absence of a strong sense of social and emotional competence, the "ABC's and 123's" just won't take you very far. Unfortunately, as early childhood teachers, many of us are not prepared to address this critical aspect of children's development, especially in the face of the many challenging behaviors that children can display as they grow and learn.

With the generous support of the St. Louis Mental Health Board, CDCA has been working for the past five years to address this critical need through our Social-Emotional Early Childhood (SEEC) Project. SEEC is a year-long process that begins with classroom teaching teams attending four full-day classes on supporting children's social and emotional development. These classes stress the importance of building supports from the bottom up-- focusing first on relationships, teacher beliefs and attitudes, then on classroom environment, social-emotional teaching strategies and finally, individual intervention plans for children with greater needs.

Friday, April 15, 2011

This is a private event at the Magic House, only open to the families that register. Tickets are only $6.00. We have had so much fun at this event the past few years and would love for you to join us this year. Click here to register and bring as many of your friends and family as possible.

What's your idea of a perfect play date for a child? We want to know...

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

CDCA has proudly supported children and families in the community for the past 40 years. Click here to help us to continue to bring these services to your community. If you would like to donate your time, CDCA is always looking for volunteers. Call us at 314-531-1412, ext. 19 if you are interested or leave us a note here.

Monday, April 4, 2011

The Outdoor Classroom workshop we held on Saturday April 2, 2011 was the first outdoor workshop held by CDCA. It was held at Kids International Child Care Center in Ellisville Mo. 25 participants came and participated in an outdoor classroom setting. We worked in created learning centers outdoors for over an hour. Here are some things that the groups included in their feedback reports. Please join me and others in continuing our discussion about using the outdoor classroom and learning through and from Nature! Here is a list of what participants said were new activities and Ideas that they learned about through the workshop.

1) Nature touchy feely box

2) Live insect boxes/containers

3) Windy day scarves use to mimic movement of trees, grasses

4) Using large and small tree cookies as percussion instruments

5) Making Grab and Go bags with instruments and props to use outdoors

6) Different uses for materials I already have in my center

7) Working with tree cookies cut in halves and fourths as fractions

9) Planning for outdoor experiences will lead to children spending more time outdoors

10) Using natural materials from the outdoors instead of plastic stuff

11) Including a bird watching station

12) Having Children sketch plants

13) Measuring things outside

14) The Tree activity (look,move,build and draw)

15) Creating an Outdoor Play policy

16) Using outdoor materials in art projects (like sticks) and do them outdoors

Again thanks to everyone who shared a new idea or activity they learned. Click here to see what participants learned in this valuable workshop by going to our You Tube Channel.

Look for more posts related to The Outdoor Classroom I hope that many of you were inspired and create all of those wonderful spaces and activites that you listed.

Check out this link for the latest Grow & Learn Family Education workshops CDCA is offering.
Would these trainings be of value to you as a parent? If so, let us know. If not, we want to know why, we value your feedback!